Our waitress Riley was great The mud pie dessert was fabulous I would order that as my meal
Nancy
Last minute decision for NYE dinner with 4 adults and a tired 5 and 7 year old. Friendly, took our order quickly, food came out quickly and was delicious. Focaccia with Burrata was excellent, Clams also, Flatiron steak better than a filet mignon we recently had, kids food was fresh and well received, staff attentive, great vibe!
Mike
Very nice for casual dining. Outside dining available when weather allows it. Right on the water.
Nicholas
Wow, we booked here for Christmas Eve dinner. The restaurant was full of smiling attentive staff! Our servers name is Sevan, was nothing short of phenomenal and gracious, and he absolutely made our Christmas Eve dinner. I had a dozen of the most perfectly shucked oysters I've had in years! We understand the owner was back in the the kitchen cooking with the team, everyone enjoyed their meals. The chicken Parmesan was the best. My mothers ever had in her entire life, and my cioppino was a little different than anything else I've ever had and my absolute favorite from now on you will have a regret if you do not order the coconut cheesecake, it was magnificent! We give the restaurant 10 stars out of five. Zelda's delivered on absolutely everything we could ask for and it will now become a never miss anytime ee are in beautiful Capitola. Merry Christmas! Thank you for  a Christmas Dinner that was Perfect in every way.
Alicia T
Good location with ok comfort food and services. The restaurant is right next to the beach facing parking lot, so quite accessible. Food was just fine if you're looking for a casual bite, service was standard as well.
Hes
We had reservations here for my wife's birthday over the weekend. We walked in a few minutes before for our reservation and there was no host/hostess there to greet us. This was our first time there, noticed a lot of people at the bar, maybe 3-4 small groups eating at tables. 3-4 minutes pass by as myself, my wife and our 3 boys are standing there, waiting to be greeted and hopefully seated. Noticed there was a bartender working, seemed pretty busy. Then a few minutes later, 2 more associates come out of some door and immediately go behind the bar with their own drinks in hand. We are clearly there, waiting to be greeted and still, no “Hello, Welcome in! We'll be right with you” or anything.. so we had enough and walked out. Went down a couple doors to Paradise Beach Grill, with no reservation and experienced the total opposite.
Stephanie
We had wonderful food and drinks and greatly enjoyed our time on the beach and watching whales swim by. Wonderful experience.
toby hayden
Whenever we are visiting Santa Cruz from the UK we always take a visit for a lunch at Zelda’s, their food is tasty and the drinks are good. Makes a very good place to catch the sun and watch the day go by. The only thing to note, there are lots of seagulls waiting to take your food so just note that. Excellent friendly staff and will visit again next year.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 5
Kerry B
Favorite place to watch the ocean. Great drinks and food.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
David Lu
You are definitely paying for the scenery not the $27 fish and chips. Ordered cup of clam chowder ($9) and fish and chips ($27). Chowder was piping hot but lacks flavor, fish and chips on the other hand was bad. It was definitely frozen premade fish deep fried. Came out soggy and fishy.
Our family went to Zelda’s in Capitola yesterday (gorgeous day!) 9/8/25 for breakfast. The location is great. We had not been there for some time. I’m a vegetarian that has an egg allergy so usually my choices are restricted and no different at Zelda’s - on Saturday’s they don’t do pancakes so my choices was - a small bowl of fruit for $7, no problem. My son had a burrito and asked to hold the green onions, my other son had clam chowder, and their grandmother had the mushroom and spinach scramble. Nothing was remarkable one way or the other, no one liked the hash browns much, which were a little cold when served to us but it was just bland, not necessarily bad tasting — just felt like a waste of calories eating them. When we got the bill we noticed we were up charged for having the green onions removed from the burrito (special order fee?), which we noted and it was removed from the bill. We also noticed a 4% fee added at the bottom. I thought that may be a fee for using a credit card so I offered cash but the waitress said that 4% was for the owners regardless of whether we paid cash. I looked at the menu online and didn’t see any mention of the 4% amount - it felt like it was foisted on us. We’re a family w/restaurant workers and typically tip wait staff larger than usual out of appreciation even for average service but not typically 24% — it left a really lousy feeling. Either deduct it from the staff tip (like the owners getting to skim part of the tips) or pay the foisted fee in addition. We like to feel good leaving a restaurant but not this time at Zelda’s By The Sea. These types of restaurant policies seem to on the rise from what I read and really spoil the dining experience for me. Now we know Zelda’s by the Sea is one of these places and at least know to avoid in the future.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 2
Service: 2
Carl Markham
Great place to eat outside as the seating area is adjacent to the beach.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 4
Service: 4
Cierra Ryczek
I love the espresso martini here!! So so good, especially like that I can order it decaf. The burger is great, and the dinner salmon dish is so good too!!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Monique Vaughn
I had a peppermint hot cocoa and my husband and I split one of their delicious giant chocolate chip cookies both were awesome!
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 4
MominOC
they had a good size menu with a variety of choices. We enjoyed the outdoor patio. Sourdough bowl of clam chowder was good but not excellent. Pricing not that bad for a beach town. Service was attentive.
Our waitress Riley was great The mud pie dessert was fabulous I would order that as my meal
Last minute decision for NYE dinner with 4 adults and a tired 5 and 7 year old. Friendly, took our order quickly, food came out quickly and was delicious. Focaccia with Burrata was excellent, Clams also, Flatiron steak better than a filet mignon we recently had, kids food was fresh and well received, staff attentive, great vibe!
Very nice for casual dining. Outside dining available when weather allows it. Right on the water.
Wow, we booked here for Christmas Eve dinner. The restaurant was full of smiling attentive staff! Our servers name is Sevan, was nothing short of phenomenal and gracious, and he absolutely made our Christmas Eve dinner. I had a dozen of the most perfectly shucked oysters I've had in years! We understand the owner was back in the the kitchen cooking with the team, everyone enjoyed their meals. The chicken Parmesan was the best. My mothers ever had in her entire life, and my cioppino was a little different than anything else I've ever had and my absolute favorite from now on you will have a regret if you do not order the coconut cheesecake, it was magnificent! We give the restaurant 10 stars out of five. Zelda's delivered on absolutely everything we could ask for and it will now become a never miss anytime ee are in beautiful Capitola. Merry Christmas! Thank you for  a Christmas Dinner that was Perfect in every way.
Good location with ok comfort food and services. The restaurant is right next to the beach facing parking lot, so quite accessible. Food was just fine if you're looking for a casual bite, service was standard as well.
We had reservations here for my wife's birthday over the weekend. We walked in a few minutes before for our reservation and there was no host/hostess there to greet us. This was our first time there, noticed a lot of people at the bar, maybe 3-4 small groups eating at tables. 3-4 minutes pass by as myself, my wife and our 3 boys are standing there, waiting to be greeted and hopefully seated. Noticed there was a bartender working, seemed pretty busy. Then a few minutes later, 2 more associates come out of some door and immediately go behind the bar with their own drinks in hand. We are clearly there, waiting to be greeted and still, no “Hello, Welcome in! We'll be right with you” or anything.. so we had enough and walked out. Went down a couple doors to Paradise Beach Grill, with no reservation and experienced the total opposite.
We had wonderful food and drinks and greatly enjoyed our time on the beach and watching whales swim by. Wonderful experience.
Whenever we are visiting Santa Cruz from the UK we always take a visit for a lunch at Zelda’s, their food is tasty and the drinks are good. Makes a very good place to catch the sun and watch the day go by. The only thing to note, there are lots of seagulls waiting to take your food so just note that. Excellent friendly staff and will visit again next year.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 5
Favorite place to watch the ocean. Great drinks and food.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
You are definitely paying for the scenery not the $27 fish and chips. Ordered cup of clam chowder ($9) and fish and chips ($27). Chowder was piping hot but lacks flavor, fish and chips on the other hand was bad. It was definitely frozen premade fish deep fried. Came out soggy and fishy.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 2
Service: 4
Restaurantji Recommends
Our family went to Zelda’s in Capitola yesterday (gorgeous day!) 9/8/25 for breakfast. The location is great. We had not been there for some time. I’m a vegetarian that has an egg allergy so usually my choices are restricted and no different at Zelda’s - on Saturday’s they don’t do pancakes so my choices was - a small bowl of fruit for $7, no problem. My son had a burrito and asked to hold the green onions, my other son had clam chowder, and their grandmother had the mushroom and spinach scramble. Nothing was remarkable one way or the other, no one liked the hash browns much, which were a little cold when served to us but it was just bland, not necessarily bad tasting — just felt like a waste of calories eating them. When we got the bill we noticed we were up charged for having the green onions removed from the burrito (special order fee?), which we noted and it was removed from the bill. We also noticed a 4% fee added at the bottom. I thought that may be a fee for using a credit card so I offered cash but the waitress said that 4% was for the owners regardless of whether we paid cash. I looked at the menu online and didn’t see any mention of the 4% amount - it felt like it was foisted on us. We’re a family w/restaurant workers and typically tip wait staff larger than usual out of appreciation even for average service but not typically 24% — it left a really lousy feeling. Either deduct it from the staff tip (like the owners getting to skim part of the tips) or pay the foisted fee in addition. We like to feel good leaving a restaurant but not this time at Zelda’s By The Sea. These types of restaurant policies seem to on the rise from what I read and really spoil the dining experience for me. Now we know Zelda’s by the Sea is one of these places and at least know to avoid in the future.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 2
Service: 2
Great place to eat outside as the seating area is adjacent to the beach.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 4
Service: 4
I love the espresso martini here!! So so good, especially like that I can order it decaf. The burger is great, and the dinner salmon dish is so good too!!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
I had a peppermint hot cocoa and my husband and I split one of their delicious giant chocolate chip cookies both were awesome!
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 4
they had a good size menu with a variety of choices. We enjoyed the outdoor patio. Sourdough bowl of clam chowder was good but not excellent. Pricing not that bad for a beach town. Service was attentive.
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